4/21/2010 @ 6:00PM

Global 2000 Drop-Offs

Business today is global, and mergers and acquisitions are often global as well. The first table below shows notable 2009 Global 2000 companies acquired or disqualified over the past 12 months. Mergers account for several of these changes. For instance, U.K. confectionary company
Cadbury
was acquired by
Kraft Foods
in March 2010.

Some reasons for a loss of Global 2000 status? Formerly the 844th-largest company in the world, General Motors fell into bankruptcy, while a few companies, through mergers, are now consolidated by Global 2000 companies. See reasons below why eight companies are no longer members of our Global 2000.

Our second table shows former Global 2000 companies that are still public, but their 2009 financial performance did not earn them a spot in 2010. We rank companies on their composite score for sales, profits, assets and market value. Our table shows where these drop-offs would rank if we extended the list beyond 2000 companies. For instance, Yell Group would be ranked 2,456 overall. Its strong points are $3.4 billion sales and $9.1 billion assets, but a loss of $1.6 billion kept this media company off the 2010 list.

Global 2000 Drop-Offs: Acquired or Disqualified

2009 Rank/Company/Country/Industry:

No. 15/
Volkswagen
/Germany/Consumer durables

A complex merger in 2009 consolidated Volkswagen and its subsidiaries into
Porsche
(No. 524).

No. 134/
Wyeth
/U.S./Drugs & biotechnology

Wyeth was acquired by
Pfizer
, which then became the world leader in veterinary prescriptions.

No. 212/
Burlington Northern Santa Fe
/U.S./Transportation

Berkshire Hathaway’s
Warren Buffett put the big railroad in its stable of companies in February.

No. 215/Unibanco Group/Brazil/Banking

Unibanco Group merged with Banco Itaú and is now under No. 82 Itaúsas umbrella, along with industrial, chemical and electronics companies.

No. 671/
Cadbury
/U.K./Food, drink and tobacco

Kraft Foods
finalized its controversial acquisition in March, removing a sweet British standby.

No. 698/Rohm & Haas/U.S./Chemicals

Dow Chemical
bolstered its platform in premium chemicals in 2009 with its $15 billion acquisition.

No. 783/Japan Airlines/Japan/Transportation

Asias biggest air carrier filed for bankruptcy in January and delisted in Tokyo a month later.

No. 844/General Motors/U.S./Consumer durables

In June 2009 old GM filed for bankruptcy and sold substantially all of its assets to a new independent company (the new GM), which currently doesnt trade.